Grandkid Visits - part Two

I think I owe you a few more pictures from our recent visits with the grandkids (and their precious parents, of course). Here ya go!

From Pensacola, we spent our 13th anniversary, January 2, driving west toward Groves, Texas. We drove through some very impoverished areas, and were reminded of the many material things we have to be grateful for. We also found a shack-type restaurant that served crawdads by the pound. We were the only non-locals in there, from what we could tell! We courageously made our way through shrimp etouffee, boudin balls, red beans and rice, and numerous other Louisiana specialties. Then Dan rewarded the girls with ice cream later after we arrived at the hotel. :-)

The next morning, Sunday, Dan and the girls went to church with our son David & his wife Dawna. They also got to meet Hayden, our newest grand-baby, for the first time. A migraine kept me at the hotel for a few extra hours, but I was able to join them for the afternoon and evening church. This guy and his older brother, Drew, are absolutely precious, happy babies. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them, even though we got less than 48 hours together. We're looking forward to a longer visit in May when they come for Malachi's graduation.

We opened Christmas presents together. Is there anything cuter than a toddler ripping off gift wrap?

When Drew was born, Dan and I made him a recordable book of our voices reading a story to him. He "read" it with me during one of his rare quieter moments. :-)

Aunt Essie and Aunt Esther love their nephews! They are so sweet and careful with the babies, 

and so creative and playful with the older ones. God planned our family perfectly!

After not nearly enough time with these four, we headed further west to San Antonio to see our other Texas kids. On the way, we stopped at another authentic eatery, a Mexican place in downtown Houston. Again, we were the only non-Spanish speakers in the place, and felt like we had a very authentic experience! We enjoyed the next two days with our daughter, Amanda, her husband, Marc, and their boys, Gabriel (age 3) and Michael (age 16 months). We hadn't seen Michael since he was a newborn, so we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know his little toddler self! 

The girls did a lot of wrestling, and jumping, and running... what else do you do with two boys?

We got to babysit the boys one morning while their mom was out! We had a blast!

Three of our daughters, and Amanda's two boys, at the San Antonio Aquarium

This poor turtle was a very good sport around lots of little, inquisitive people.

Nona Rachel had fun building towers for Gabe and Michael to knock down. :-)

Would you trust these doctors?

We had to leave Amanda's house all too soon, since Dan had to be back at work over the weekend. :-( They, too, will be in KC in May, Lord willing, so we'll look forward to more time then! We made a quick visit to the Alamo, then headed north with full hearts and lots of memories!

The highlight of our drive north was stopping in to see the Booths and McAnarneys, 

friends who used to attend our church here in KC, and are now based out of Fort Hood, 

just south of Dallas. And yes, I got to hold another little baby boy during our visit! 

I'm a sucker for baby boys, when my grandboys are so far away!

That was the end of our eleven day, nineteen hundred mile journey. I'm so grateful for: 1) a hubby who is willing to make the financial commitment to visit our kiddos, 2) kiddos who are willing to make us a part of their lives, 3) a job that allows Dan the time off for long trips like this, 4) kids who travel well, even when bouncing around for nearly two weeks, doing homeschool in the car!, and so many other things!

Thanks for traveling with us via these pics. I promise, I won't bore you with any more grandbabies for a bit. :-)